Clear Eyes

Sailing into the unknown.

Returning with the unimaginable.

Thursday, September 6, 1492: Christopher Columbus weighs anchor from La Gomera in the Canary Islands. He plans to reach Cipango-Japan-in about three weeks. He brings along a servant: Totio-Clear Eyes, a Canary Island native.

Five harrowing weeks later: Columbus wades ashore on an island in what he believes to be the Indies. Two worlds will never be the same.

Peter Wibaux, author of the award-winning novel The India Road, portrays Columbus's voyage of discovery in a new light. It begins with a torrid affair between the admiral and Countess Beatriz de Bobadilla: La Cazadora-the Huntress. It leads to brutal conquest in the Caribbean as Columbus's men inflict misery and death on the indigenous Taino people in their relentless search for the riches of Asia. And Totio must choose between loyalty to his master and love for Anda, a beautiful Taino girl.

A corrupt pope, a seductive courtesan, and the cruelty of the conquistadors punctuate this story, fact-based and researched in libraries on both sides of the Atlantic. Spices are what Columbus hopes to find, but will the expedition return with more than it bargained for?